Mesh network based automated upload of content to aircraft

ABSTRACT

The Automated Content Upload System networks a plurality of aircraft together when they are parked at the gates of an airport. Communications among the aircraft are guided by a Content Manager, resident at or near the airport, which maintains data representative of InFlight Entertainment Content presently stored on each aircraft and the list of scheduled InFlight Entertainment Content available on each aircraft. The Content Manager guides the exchange of InFlight Entertainment Content among the aircraft, as well as from the Content Manager to the aircraft, to automatically distribute InFlight Entertainment Content to the aircraft efficiently and timely. This process includes the ability to multicast data from the Content Manager to multiple aircraft in a single transmission, obtaining content delivery efficiency, populating multiple aircraft via a single transmission from the Content Manager. Furthermore, the Content Manager can supplement this process via transmissions to the aircraft in flight over the Air-To-Ground link.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to InFlight Entertainment Content which isdelivered to passengers on an aircraft and, in particular, to acommunication system that provides aircraft with high speed delivery ofnew InFlight Entertainment Content via a mesh network to enable InFlightEntertainment Content to be populated on the Content Manager which islocated on the aircraft by wirelessly transferring InFlightEntertainment Content files from other aircraft or from a centralContent Manager.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

It is a problem in the field of InFlight Entertainment to providepassengers on all the aircraft of a particular carrier with the mostcurrent In-Flight Entertainment Content for delivery either to thepassenger's wireless personal communication devices or aircraft-baseddisplays. Air-To-Ground communications, such as between an aircraft inflight and Air-To-Ground terrestrial sites, fails to provide sufficientbandwidth to transmit all of the InFlight Entertainment Content from theAir-To-Ground terrestrial sites to the aircraft in flight. As a result,InFlight Entertainment Content is typically manually loaded onto theInFlight Entertainment server which is located in each aircraft viaportable media (USB sticks) when the aircraft is parked at an airportgate. Thus, every InFlight Entertainment Content update requires a visitto an aircraft by maintenance personnel. The two weaknesses with thismethod are the cost to distribute and swap the USB sticks, and the timeit takes to accomplish this: the effort to create a new USB stick, ship,and swap the USB stick in all of the aircraft of a carrier takes about 3to 4 weeks. This is an expensive and inefficient process, which islacking in timeliness of InFlight Entertainment Content delivery. Inaddition, the coordination of these InFlight Entertainment Contentdeliveries is complex and prone to human error, especially since theaircraft are transient and can be rerouted to meet the needs of theairline or for weather/maintenance events.

Another method in loading InFlight Entertainment Content on the aircraftis via wireless download (3G Cellular/4G Cellular/WiFi connectivity).The issues with wireless connectivity are the data file size of InFlightEntertainment Content (1 GB/movie), the extent of wireless coverage, andthe cost of wireless service; it can be very costly to go down this pathvs. manually swapping out USB sticks. In addition, at a busy airport,the ability to concurrently transmit InFlight Entertainment Content tomultiple aircraft while they sit at the gate is inconsistent.

Therefore, there presently is no reliable, effective, cost-efficient wayof delivering InFlight Entertainment Content to aircraft.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The above-described problems are solved and a technical advance achievedin the field by the present Mesh Network Based Automated Upload ofContent To Aircraft (termed “Automated Content Upload System” herein)which functions to network a plurality of aircraft, and optionally userwireless personal communication devices, together when they are on theground at an airport, typically when parked at the gates of an airport.The communications among the aircraft are guided by a Content Manager,typically resident at or near the airport, which maintains datarepresentative of the InFlight Entertainment Content presently stored oneach aircraft, as well as the list of scheduled InFlight EntertainmentContent that is to be available on each aircraft. The Content Managerguides the exchange of InFlight Entertainment Content data among theaircraft as well as from the Content Manager to the aircraft toautomatically distribute InFlight Entertainment Content to the aircraftin an efficient and timely manner. Included in this process is theability to multicast data from the Content Manager to multiple aircraftin a single transmission, thereby obtaining InFlight EntertainmentContent delivery efficiency by populating multiple aircraft via a singletransmission from the Content Manager. Furthermore, the Content Managercan supplement this process via transmissions to the aircraft, when inflight, over the existing Air To Ground link. Finally, the users'portable wireless personal communication devices, such as thosebelonging to aircraft crew, passengers, and the like (collectivelytermed “users” herein), can be made a temporary node in the mesh networkand used to transport content onboard the aircraft or function as arelay point between a source and the next device in the network, as isdescribed below.

In addition, the term “InFlight Entertainment Content” includes movies,music, WEB pages, catalogs, magazines, and any other data that theaircraft passengers may wish to view on their wireless personalcommunication devices while in flight on the aircraft.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates the Automated Content Upload System in block diagramform;

FIG. 2 illustrates a typical airport configuration with multipleaircraft parked at gates;

FIG. 3 illustrates a map of aircraft interconnections in the network;

FIG. 4 illustrates in flow diagram form the operation of the AutomatedContent Upload System in defining wireless interconnections amongmultiple aircraft located at an airport; and

FIG. 5 illustrates, in flow diagram form, the operation of the AutomatedContent Upload System in loading InFlight Entertainment Content tomultiple aircraft located at an airport.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The Automated Content Upload System 100 functions to network a pluralityof Aircraft 221-228 together when they are located at an airport and/orparked at the Gates 211G, 212G of an airport. FIG. 1 illustrates theAutomated Content Upload System 100 in block diagram form. The AutomatedContent Upload System 100 includes a Content Manager 101, which is therepository of InFlight Entertainment Content, as well as the source ofcontrol of the mesh network that is established among the aircraftparked at the airport. The Automated Content Upload System 100 alsoincludes one or more Terrestrial Wireless Portals 102, 103 which providethe radio frequency links between the Content Manager 101 and theAircraft 221-228 (as well as users' Wireless Personal CommunicationDevices 104, 105).

The Content Manager 101 guides the exchange of InFlight EntertainmentContent data among the Aircraft 221-228 as well as from the ContentManager 101 to the Aircraft 221-228 to automatically distribute InFlightEntertainment Content to the Aircraft 221-228 in an efficient and timelymanner. The Automated Content Upload System 100 has a plurality of thefollowing attributes:

1. Locate, identify and communicate with all aircraft (network nodes)via Terrestrial Wireless Portals;

2. Perform network registration of each aircraft in an autonomous,automatic manner;

3. Authenticate aircraft (network nodes) on the network to ensure theyare legitimate network nodes;

4. Establish regular “all is well” internal communications to verifynetwork health;

5. Establish self-test algorithms in order to verify networkfunctionality;

6. Able to relay data from aircraft to the next; and

7. Able to download content data to multiple aircraft even though dataentry into the network is at a single point.

8. Locate, identify, and authenticate users for qualification astemporary mobile nodes in the network.

Network Topology

A mesh network is a local area network (LAN) that employs one of twoconnection arrangements: full mesh topology or partial mesh topology. Inthe full mesh topology, each node is connected directly to each of theothers. In the partial mesh topology, some nodes may be connected to allthe others, but some of the nodes are connected only to those othernodes with which they exchange the most data. The mesh network topologyis a peer-to-peer system where a node can send and receive messages, buteach node also functions as a router and can relay messages for itsneighbors. Through this relaying process, a packet of data finds its wayto its ultimate destination, passing through intermediate nodes withreliable communication links. If node fails in this network, themessages are automatically routed through alternative paths.

Physical Orientation of the Network

As shown in FIG. 1, the Automated Content Upload System 100 includes notonly a processor, termed Content Manager 101, but also one or moreTerrestrial Wireless Portals 102, 103 which function to wirelesslycommunicate with the Aircraft 221-228. The Content Manager 101 includesan associated Content Memory 111 which functions to store InFlightEntertainment Content for distribution to Aircraft 221-228 as well as aNetwork Map 112 which identifies the communication connections among theAircraft 221-228 and, optionally, users' Wireless Personal CommunicationDevices 104, 105. The Content Manager 101 also includes an AircraftContent Schedule Table 113 which lists data that identifies theindividual aircraft and the content that is presently scheduled to beresident in this aircraft's Aircraft Content Memory 234. Thus, ContentManager 101 can determine what content needs to be loaded on aparticular Aircraft 221 by comparing a list of content presently storedin this aircraft's Aircraft Content Memory 234 and content presentlyscheduled to be resident in this aircraft's Aircraft Content Memory 234as noted in Aircraft Content Schedule Table 113.

Each Aircraft 221-228 includes an Aircraft Content Network Manager 221Athat consists of a server which implements the aircraft-centric portionof the Automated Content Upload System 100. The Aircraft Content NetworkManager 221A includes an Aircraft Content Memory 234 that stores thecontent for distribution to the passengers onboard this aircraft. TheAircraft Content Network Manager 221A also includes an Aircraft QueryGenerator 231 for wirelessly polling nearby aircraft to establish andupdate the mesh network that is used to exchange content among theAircraft 221-228 and from Content Manager 101 to identified Aircraft221-228. Aircraft Network Memory 232 maintains a record of the nearbyaircraft in wireless communication range of the Aircraft 221, andAircraft Node Registration 233 is a process that shares the collectedAircraft Network Memory content and a list of content stored in theAircraft Content Memory 234 with the Content Manager 101, as describedbelow.

FIG. 2 illustrates a typical airport configuration with multipleAircraft 221-228 parked at Gates 211G, 212G. Typically, but notnecessarily, a Terrestrial Wireless Portal 102 may be physicallyinstalled at a location of an airport terminal building serving aplurality of gates, such as location 211 in the familiar‘multi-horseshoe’ topography, diagrammatically illustrated in FIG. 1.Where an airport contains multiple terminals or has a large number ofgates distributed over a substantial airport area, the airport may beequipped with one or more additional Terrestrial Wireless Portal 103locations, shown at 212 in FIG. 1, in order to ensure complete gatecoverage.

The locations of Terrestrial Wireless Portals 102, 103 are such that,regardless of its location, each of Aircraft 221-228 is assured ofhaving a wireless terrestrial data link with a Terrestrial WirelessPortal 102, 103 of the Automated Content Upload System 100. The spacingbetween Terrestrial Wireless Portals 102, 103 is such as to provideoverlapping terrestrial link communication coverage, as indicated byoverlapping circles 214 and 215, whose respective radii encompass theentirety of their associated multi-gate areas 216 and 217.

Mesh Network Creation

In order to support communication among the Aircraft 221-228 and withthe Content Manager 101, the mesh network must be established andperiodically updated as aircraft arrive and depart from their respectivegates and users flow through the terminals and aircraft. As an example,assume that a mesh network among Aircraft 221-226 and Content Manager101 is established and presently active. The process of creation of anetwork can be understood by describing the process of adding a new nodeto an existing network and then extrapolating this process to the casewhere no network is initially active.

FIG. 4 illustrates in flow diagram form the operation of the AutomatedContent Upload System 100 in defining wireless interconnections amongmultiple Aircraft 221-228 located at an airport, as showndiagrammatically in FIG. 3. This process of adding a node to the networkentails the newly arrived Aircraft 221 at step 401 activating AircraftQuery Generator 231 to transmit one or more messages over a selectedfrequency band to establish communications with one or more of theAircraft 222 located at the airport. If, at step 402, the newly arrivedAircraft 221 fails to locate any other aircraft, then this is an errorcondition, since the network must contain two or more nodes. Therefore,processing advances to step 403 where an error indication is generatedto indicate that the network configuration has failed.

Otherwise, at step 404, the newly arrived Aircraft 221 receives one ormore responses to its transmitted query and stores the identity of theresponding Aircraft 222, 223 in its Aircraft Network Memory 232 at step405. If this responding Aircraft (222, for example) has not previouslybeen detected by the newly arrived Aircraft 221, then the number ofprimary proximate nodes has changed and processing returns to step 404where the next responsive response (from Aircraft 223, for example) isreceived and analyzed as noted above. The steps 404-406 are repeateduntil all of the responses received by newly arrived Aircraft 221 havebeen processed. At this juncture, all of the Aircraft 222, 223 that areproximate to the newly arrived Aircraft 221 are identified and theiridentities stored in the Aircraft Network Memory 232 of newly arrivedAircraft 221. The identified nodes that are proximate to andcommunicable with newly arrived Aircraft 221 form the sub-network forthe newly arrived Aircraft 221 within the composite mesh network. In alike manner, all individual Aircraft 222 to 223 have their ownsub-networks of nodes which are respectively communicable to themselves,respectively.

The newly arrived Aircraft 221 then activates Aircraft Node Registration233 to establish a communication link at step 407 with the ContentManager 101 via the Terrestrial Wireless Portal 102. The newly arrivedAircraft 221 downloads the data gathered from the above-notedsub-network determination process and stored in Aircraft Network Memory232 to the Content Manager 101, which stores mapping data in Network Map112 from each aircraft indicative of the other airport resident aircraftwith which each aircraft can communicate. The Content Manager 101maintains a multi-dimensional map which charts the interconnectionsamong the aircraft that support the exchange of data. FIG. 3 illustratesa map of aircraft interconnections in the network as stored in NetworkMap 112.

For the sake of simplicity, the incorporation of users' wirelesspersonal communication devices 104, 105 into the mesh network is notdescribed, although the process is substantially the same as thatarticulated for aircraft. Since crew members can be identified and theirrespective flight assignments predetermined, it is advantageous to loadcontent onto their wireless personal communication devices and havethese devices propagate content as the crew members move among theirrespective aircraft assignments. Thus, the propagation of content issignificantly enhanced by the addition of a multitude of crew members tothe content propagation process. In addition, the crew members' wirelesspersonal communication devices can upload content to the aircraft whilethe crew member is onboard and the aircraft is in flight. Thus, thetemporal and spatial extent of the content loading process is expanded,even though the aircraft has left the terminal, since the content loadprocess continues.

The following description is aircraft-centric for simplicity ofdescription, but the use of the term “aircraft” can include users'wireless personal communication devices as one embodiment of a contentdelivery node. This node is mobile and is not constrained to be locatedat a particular gate in the terminal; in fact, it is expected to roamthroughout the airport and be resident in various aircraft and atvarious gates during their tenure at this airport. Thus, the users'wireless personal communication devices are part of the network in theform of mobile repositories of content, with their physical movementfrom one aircraft to another or from the airport terminal to an aircraftresults in the content being available to load into the content memoryof the aircraft on which the user is located. Thus, the users' wirelesspersonal communication devices typically do not “store and forward”content via wireless links as the aircraft do; they do store content andmanually position themselves inside an aircraft to download the contentto the aircraft content memory.

Content Data Distribution

FIG. 5 illustrates in flow diagram form the operation of the AutomatedContent Upload System 100 in loading InFlight Entertainment Content tomultiple aircraft located at an airport. In the Automated Content UploadSystem 100, as described above, aircraft associate with other aircraftat the gates via aircraft-to-aircraft wireless links. Thus, eachaircraft has a “thin link” to the Content Manager 101 via theTerrestrial Wireless Portal 102, 103 and a fat WiFi pipe to the aircraftit is meshed with. At this point, the Content Manager 101 pushes data tospecific aircraft via the Terrestrial Wireless Portal 102, 103; andthese aircraft push the received content (or content already stored onthe aircraft) to other aircraft, as identified to the aircraft, via theWiFi mesh.

The Content Manager 101 stores each aircraft's location, meshconnectivity, mesh link performance, Terrestrial Wireless Portal linkperformance, as well as a list of content that is stored on the aircraftand a list of content that presently should be stored on the aircraft.The Content Manager 101 also knows the Terrestrial Wireless Portal 102,103 data budget remaining for the month.

Thus, at step 501, Content Processor 106 of the Content Manager 101identifies an Aircraft 221 which requires delivery of a selectedInFlight Entertainment Content file which is stored in Content ManagerMemory 111. Content Processor 106 makes this determination by comparinga list of content presently stored in this aircraft's Aircraft ContentMemory 234 and content presently scheduled to be resident in thisaircraft's Aircraft Content Memory 234 as noted in Aircraft ContentSchedule Table 113. Content Manager 101, at step 502, activates awireless connection to Aircraft 221 via Terrestrial Wireless Portal 103.Content Manager 101 then, at step 503, transfers the selected InFlightEntertainment Content file to Aircraft 221 via Terrestrial WirelessPortal 103. Another file transfer mode is executed airplane-to-airplanewhen Content Manager 101 at step 511 identifies a first Aircraft 228which has stored in its content memory a selected InFlight EntertainmentContent file. At step 512, the Content Manager 101 identifies a secondAircraft 221 which does not have the selected InFlight EntertainmentContent file stored in its content memory. At step 513, Content Manager101 reviews the mesh network aircraft interconnection maps, as describedabove and, at step 514, maps a wireless path through the mesh networkfrom the first Aircraft 228 to the second Aircraft 221, which includes alink through a bridge node (Aircraft 222) to enable the data transfer totake place. Content Manager 101, at step 515, transmits control data toAircraft 221, 222, and 228 to initiate the transfer of the selectedInFlight Entertainment Content file from the content memory of the firstAircraft 228 to the bridge node Aircraft 222 at step 516, which forwardsthe selected InFlight Entertainment Content file to the second Aircraft221 at step 517, which stores the selected InFlight EntertainmentContent file in its Aircraft Content Memory 334 at step 518.

Since the bandwidth of the aircraft-to-aircraft WiFi link is greaterthan the bandwidth of the Terrestrial Wireless Portals 102, 103, thetransfer of the selected InFlight Entertainment Content file asdescribed above is effected more quickly. In addition, the use of theaircraft as data transfer elements reduces the processing load on theContent Manager 101. Furthermore, Content Manager 101 can use datamulticasting to transfer the selected InFlight Entertainment Contentfile to multiple target aircraft in a single file transfer operation.Thus, Content Manager 101 in the transmission of control data toAircraft 221, 222, and 228 at step 515 defines a data multicast mode,rather than a point-to-point transmission as described above. Thiscontrol data causes the first Aircraft 228 to initiate the transfer ofthe selected InFlight Entertainment Content file from the content memoryof the first Aircraft 228 to the bridge node Aircraft 222 at step 516,which stores the selected InFlight Entertainment Content file in itscontent memory at step 519 and forwards the selected InFlightEntertainment Content file to the second Aircraft 221 at step 517, whichstores the selected InFlight Entertainment Content file in its AircraftContent Memory 334 at step 518.

The Content Manager 101 typically has a plurality of design goals:

1. Minimize the amount of content downloaded over the TerrestrialWireless Portal;

2. Minimize time to get content on aircraft;

3. Ability to prioritize content distribution (what is high priority,what is low);

4. Each aircraft checks neighboring aircraft inventory andsynchronizes/updates content without the need for Content Managerinteraction; and

5. File Transfer methods must support frequent breaks in connectivityand file transfer resumption from different sources (servers).

SUMMARY

The Automated Content Upload System networks a plurality of aircrafttogether when they are on the ground at an airport, typically whenparked at the gates of an airport. The communications among the aircraftare guided by a Content Manager which maintains data representative ofthe InFlight Entertainment Content presently stored on each aircraft, aswell as the list of scheduled InFlight Entertainment Content that is tobe available on each aircraft. The Content Manager guides the exchangeof InFlight Entertainment Content data among the aircraft, as well asfrom the Content Manager to the aircraft to automatically distributeInFlight Entertainment Content to the aircraft in an efficient andtimely manner.

What is claimed as new and desired to be protected by Letters Patent ofthe United States is:
 1. An automated content upload system fordelivering content to a plurality of aircraft which are present at anairport that is served by the automated content upload system,comprising: at least one terrestrial wireless portal for establishingbidirectional data communications links with a plurality of aircraft; acontent manager, having a content memory for storing content data,connected to the at least one terrestrial wireless portal for exchangingcontent data with at least one of the plurality of aircraft via the atleast one terrestrial wireless portal; an aircraft content networkmanager, resident in each of the plurality of aircraft, comprising: anaircraft content memory for storing content data for distribution topassengers onboard the aircraft, an aircraft query generator fordetecting the presence of any other aircraft by transmitting a wirelessquery on a predetermined frequency band, an aircraft network memory forstoring identities of the aircraft that respond to the transmittedwireless query to define an aircraft sub-network comprising theidentified aircraft, an aircraft node registration for transmittingaircraft data, indicative of content data stored in the aircraft contentmemory and data indicative of the aircraft sub-network, to the contentmanager via the terrestrial wireless portal; and wherein the contentmanager comprises a content processor which is responsive to receipt ofaircraft data from the aircraft node registration, indicative of contentdata stored in the aircraft content memory and data indicative of theaircraft sub-network, for transmitting control signals to a firstaircraft to activate the first aircraft to wirelessly distributeidentified content data that is stored in the aircraft content memory ofthe first aircraft to a second aircraft.
 2. The automated content uploadsystem of claim 1 wherein said content manager further comprises: anaircraft content schedule table for storing data indicative of contentpresently scheduled to be resident in an aircraft's aircraft contentmemory.
 3. The automated content upload system of claim 2 wherein saidcontent processor compares a list of content presently stored in anaircraft's aircraft content memory and content presently scheduled to beresident in this aircraft's content memory as noted in the aircraftcontent schedule table.
 4. The automated content upload system of claim1 further comprising: wherein the content manager defines the wirelesspath from the first aircraft to the second aircraft, the wireless pathoptionally including at least one additional aircraft which functions asa bridge between the first aircraft and the second aircraft.
 5. Theautomated content upload system of claim 1 further comprising: whereinthe content manager multicasts content data to multiple aircraft bytransmitting content data via a terrestrial wireless portal to a firstaircraft in a series of aircraft, each of which stores and forwardscontent data or functions as a bridge to pass content data along thedefined path.
 6. The automated content upload system of claim 1 furthercomprising: network expansion, for activating aircraft query to detectthe presence of any other aircraft located at the airport.
 7. Theautomated content upload system of claim 1 further comprising: whereinthe content manager transmits content data to an aircraft bytransmitting content data via a wireless air-to-ground link.
 8. Theautomated content upload system of claim 1 wherein the network managerfurther comprises: a user wireless personal communication device queryfor detecting the presence of user wireless personal communicationdevices; and user wireless personal communication device contentdistribution for transmitting content to a memory of the user wirelesspersonal communication device via the terrestrial wireless portal. 9.The automated content upload system of claim 8 wherein the aircraftcontent network manager further comprises: user wireless personalcommunication device content retrieval for transmitting content from amemory of the user wireless personal communication device to theaircraft content memory when the user is onboard the aircraft.
 10. Anautomated content upload method for delivering content to a plurality ofaircraft which are present at an airport that is served by an automatedcontent upload system, comprising the steps of: establishingbidirectional data communications links with a plurality of aircraft viaat least one terrestrial wireless portal; transmitting content data froma content manager, having a content memory for storing content data,connected to the at least one terrestrial wireless portal, to at leastone of the plurality of aircraft via the at least one terrestrialwireless portal; operating an aircraft content manager, resident in eachof the plurality of aircraft which have an aircraft content memory forstoring content data for distribution to passengers on the aircraft,comprising: transmitting a wireless query on a predetermined frequencyband to detect the presence of any other aircraft, storing identities ofthe aircraft that respond to the transmitted wireless query in anaircraft network memory to define an aircraft sub-network comprising theidentified aircraft, and transmitting aircraft data indicative ofcontent data stored in the aircraft content memory and data indicativeof the aircraft sub-network to the content manager via the terrestrialwireless portal; and transmitting control signals from the contentmanager, in response to receipt of aircraft content data stored in theaircraft content memory and data indicative of the aircraft sub-network,to a first aircraft to activate the first aircraft to wirelesslydistribute identified content data that is stored in the aircraftcontent memory of the first aircraft to a second aircraft.
 11. Theautomated content upload method of claim 10 wherein said step ofoperating an aircraft content manager further comprises: storing data,indicative of content presently scheduled to be resident in anaircraft's aircraft content memory, in an aircraft content scheduletable.
 12. The automated content upload method of claim 10 wherein saidstep of transmitting comprises: comparing a list of content presentlystored in an aircraft's aircraft content memory and content presentlyscheduled to be resident in this aircraft's aircraft content memory asnoted in the aircraft content schedule table.
 13. The automated contentupload method of claim 10 further comprising the step of: defining, inthe content manager, the wireless path from the first aircraft to thesecond aircraft, the wireless path optionally including at least oneadditional aircraft which functions as a bridge between the firstaircraft and the second aircraft.
 14. The automated content uploadmethod of claim 10 further comprising the step of: multicasting, fromthe content manager, content data to multiple aircraft by transmittingcontent data via a terrestrial wireless portal to a first aircraft in aseries of aircraft, each of which stores and forwards content data orfunctions as a bridge to pass content data along the defined path. 15.The automated content upload system of claim 10 further comprising thestep of: activating aircraft query to detect the presence of any otheraircraft located at the airport.
 16. The automated content upload systemof claim 10 further comprising the step of: wherein the content managertransmits content data to an aircraft by transmitting content data via awireless air-to-ground link.
 17. An automated content upload system fordelivering content to a plurality of aircraft which are present at anairport that is served by the automated content upload system,comprising: at least one terrestrial wireless portal for establishingbidirectional data communications links with a plurality of aircraft; acontent manager, having a content memory for storing content data andconnected to the at least one terrestrial wireless portal, forexchanging content data with at least one of the plurality of aircraftvia the at least one terrestrial wireless portal; and wherein thecontent manager is responsive to aircraft content data indicative ofcontent stored on the aircraft and data indicative of wirelessconnectivity among the aircraft for transmitting control signals to afirst aircraft to activate the first aircraft to wirelessly distributeidentified content data stored in its aircraft content memory to asecond aircraft via an aircraft-to-aircraft wireless link.
 18. Theautomated content upload system of claim 17 further comprising: anaircraft content network manager, resident in each of the plurality ofaircraft, comprising: an aircraft content memory for storing contentdata for distribution to passengers onboard the aircraft, an aircraftquery generator for detecting the presence of any other aircraft bytransmitting a wireless query on a predetermined frequency band, and anaircraft network memory for storing identities of the aircraft thatrespond to the transmitted wireless query to define an aircraftsub-network comprising the identified aircraft; an aircraft noderegistration for transmitting aircraft data, indicative of content datastored in the aircraft content memory and data indicative of theaircraft sub-network, to the content manager via the terrestrialwireless portal; and wherein the content manager comprises a contentprocessor which is responsive to receipt of aircraft data from theaircraft node registration, indicative of content data stored in theaircraft content memory and data indicative of the aircraft sub-network,for transmitting control signals to a first aircraft to activate thefirst aircraft to wirelessly distribute identified content data that isstored in the aircraft content memory of the first aircraft to a secondaircraft via an aircraft-to-aircraft wireless link.
 19. The automatedcontent upload system of claim 18 wherein said content manager furthercomprises: an aircraft content schedule table for storing dataindicative of content presently scheduled to be resident in anaircraft's content memory.
 20. The automated content upload system ofclaim 18 wherein said content processor compares a list of contentpresently stored in an aircraft's content memory and content presentlyscheduled to be resident in this aircraft's content memory as noted inthe aircraft content schedule table.
 21. The automated content uploadsystem of claim 17 further comprising: wherein the content managerdefines the wireless path from the first aircraft to the secondaircraft, the wireless path via the aircraft-to-aircraft wireless linkoptionally including at least one additional aircraft which functions asa bridge between the first aircraft and the second aircraft.
 22. Theautomated content upload system of claim 17 further comprising: whereinthe content manager multicasts content data to multiple aircraft bytransmitting content data via a terrestrial wireless portal to a firstaircraft in a series of aircraft, each of which stores and forwardscontent data or functions as a bridge to pass content data along thedefined path via the aircraft-to-aircraft wireless link.
 23. Theautomated content upload system of claim 17 further comprising: networkexpansion for activating aircraft query to detect the presence of anyother aircraft located at the airport.
 24. The automated content uploadsystem of claim 17 further comprising: wherein the content managertransmits content data to an aircraft via a wireless air-to-ground link.25. An automated content upload method for delivering content to aplurality of aircraft which are present at an airport that is served byan automated content upload system comprising the steps of: establishingbidirectional data communications links with a plurality of aircraft viaat least one terrestrial wireless portal; transmitting content data froma content manager having a content memory for storing content data andconnected to the at least one terrestrial wireless portal to at leastone of the plurality of aircraft via the at least one terrestrialwireless portal; and transmitting from the content manager, responsiveto aircraft content data indicative of content stored on the aircraftand data indicative of wireless connectivity among the aircraft, controlsignals to a first aircraft to activate the first aircraft to wirelesslydistribute identified content data stored in its aircraft content memoryto a second aircraft via an aircraft-to-aircraft wireless link.
 26. Theautomated content upload method of claim 25, further comprising:operating an aircraft content network manager, resident in each of theplurality of aircraft, comprising: storing, in an aircraft contentmemory, content data for distribution to passengers onboard theaircraft, transmitting a wireless query on a predetermined frequencyband to detect the presence of any other aircraft, storing identities ofthe aircraft that respond to the transmitted wireless query in anaircraft network memory to define an aircraft sub-network comprising theidentified aircraft, transmitting aircraft data indicative of contentdata stored in the aircraft content memory and data indicative of theaircraft sub-network to the content manager via the terrestrial wirelessportal; and transmitting control signals from the content manager, inresponse to receipt of aircraft content data stored in the aircraftcontent memory and data indicative of the aircraft sub-network, to afirst aircraft to activate the first aircraft to wirelessly distributeidentified content data that is stored in the aircraft content memory ofthe first aircraft to a second aircraft.
 27. The automated contentupload method of claim 26, further comprising the step of: defining, inthe content manager, the wireless path from the first aircraft to thesecond aircraft, the wireless path via the aircraft-to-aircraft wirelesslink optionally including at least one additional aircraft whichfunctions as a bridge between the first aircraft and the secondaircraft.
 28. The automated content upload method of claim 26, furthercomprising the step of: multicasting, from the content manager, contentdata to multiple aircraft by transmitting content data via a terrestrialwireless portal to a first aircraft in a series of aircraft, each ofwhich stores and forwards content data or functions as a bridge to passcontent data along the defined path via the aircraft-to-aircraftwireless link.
 29. The automated content upload method of claim 26,further comprising the step of: activating aircraft query to detect thepresence of any other aircraft located at the airport.
 30. The automatedcontent upload method of claim 26, further comprising the step of:transmitting, from the content manager, content data to an aircraft viaa wireless air-to-ground link.